The List

July 1, 2015

Not too long ago, Michael shared how we plan to save money on our mortgage. We plan to have an appraisal done so that we can drop our PMI, but before we can do that, we have a few things we need to take care of maintenance-wise.

Here’s the list we came up with of things that need to be done pre-appraisal, including updates on what we’ve actually accomplished thus far:

– Fix wood rot + repaint those areas: This one is going to be difficult, because we don’t know the paint color of our house. And even if we did, I’d still want to paint it another color, but I have no idea what color as of now. I need to get on Photoshop and play around a bit.– Change the garage door– Fix the fence: This one is only partially checked off the list. We fixed the majority of the fence, but we still have that last post that we will need to dig up and replace.

– Repaint the front door/threshold: I’m just waiting for it to stop raining or being so humid, so I can at least spray paint the threshold. I’m considering a different color for the door, or at least a darker version of the one we have now.– Finish landscaping outside: So far we did some planting in the backyard and updated the front yard with mulch and more edging. We still need to remove the grass from a few areas to make beds, get window boxes for the second story windows on the front of the house, get a few year-round-interesting plants for the front yard, and plant our blue fescue edging (which is currently growing in an egg carton on our window sill).
– Power wash the bricks– Finish painting door and trim + finish changing all the door knobs/hinges: Generally avoiding this like the plague. Painting trim is the last thing I want to do — especially trim that is surrounded by carpet. This is made worse by the fact that we really want to replace our trim, but don’t really have the money to do that right now. So, do I spend hours on end painting trim that we will replace in the near future, or do we slowly replace it one room at a time? If we did start replacing it, it might delay when we could get the appraisal done.– Get a fan for the sitting area in the kitchen: Even though I despise it, I’m considering taking the one out of Akira’s room and putting it in the sunroom. I’d like to get a table fan for her room and put an actual pendant light in her ceiling.– Fix holes in bedroom wall: When we had an electrician add an outlet to our closet turned library, we were left with this:

We need to patch those holes. It shouldn’t take too long and we have most of the supplies (minus drywall), so this may be the next thing we tackle.– Fix cracked tile/grout in master bath– Refinish/replace hall bathroom tub– Paint girls’ room + get window dressings– Replace closet doors in Eleanor’s room: CHECK! It’s the little victories, friends.– Organize kitchen desk: For everything I remove from this desk, 3 other things find their way their. Sigh.– Update the downstairs bathroom: Last weekend we did a little multitasking and took a family day trip to San Antonio to pick up a pedestal sink for this bathroom.

Typically, we would never drive that far to purchase an item from Craigslist, but it was just that good. A brand new pedestal sink for $45! Craigslist pulled one of those “more results in other areas”, and I didn’t even realize it until after I contacted the owner. Michael and I talked about it and decided to just make a day of it. We had lunch, got the sink, and hung out with friends who moved to San Antonio a while back. It was fun times. I’m not sure when we’ll get around to updating the bathroom, so the sink it currently in the garage. It’s definitely something that we want to tackle soon, but it will also require us saving up some money first.

That’s where we are on the list so far. I need to post this list somewhere physically in the house so that it will motivate us to get things checked off. What about you guys? Done any home improvement road trips? Any big 4th of July plan for those of you in the states?